


Cyclone

by Sylphidine_Gallimaufry



Series: Tales of Nightmare Dork University [16]
Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Nightmare Dork University - Fandom, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Asexual Relationship, F/M, Fearlings (Guardians of Childhood), NDU Metaverse, Nightmare Dork University (Fanverse), asexual Katherine, demiromantic Nightlight, mentions of NDU Stagefright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 09:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27348715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry/pseuds/Sylphidine_Gallimaufry
Summary: Nightlight takes his work in Campus Security very seriously, and it bleeds into his dreams. Set in the Nightmare Dork University AU of the movie RISE OF THE GUARDIANS and The Guardians of Childhood book series.
Relationships: Katherine/Nightlight
Series: Tales of Nightmare Dork University [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/577933
Kudos: 2





	Cyclone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nattlys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nattlys/gifts).



> Takes place directly after "Steeplechase".

Nightlight shifted ever so slightly so that Katherine’s head rested on his upper arm, rather than in the crook of his elbow. She was much less likely to awake with a stiff neck that way, and if his arm went a little numb in the night, well, it was a small price to pay.

They didn’t sleep together every night, whether in the same room or at the same time. Tonight, however, after Katherine ’s nightmare, she and Nightlight both moved in silent agreement toward the Nest as they got ready to turn in for the night. 

The accidental kindness of their landlords, by renting out a multi-bedroom railroad flat to two grad students when they could have charged a justified higher rent to a family with children, had made it possible for each of them to have their own room, as well as an office for Katherine to study and write in.

The bedroom they called the Nest, however, was too big and too lovely not to share, on those nights when they wanted to just be wrapped up in one another. It had probably been a “second parlour” at one point in the original double-decker design, blocked off by heavy wooden sliding doors from the long living room and dining room that flowed one into the other. It had a bay window that overlooked the wooded backyard, as well as a bricked-up fireplace with a shining wooden mantelpiece that matched the shining wainscotting. Best of all, the Nest contained a huge bed that was perfect for bouncing on in socks or bare feet, with plenty of pillows sturdy enough to battle with. 

And the bed was comfortable for sleeping in, too, when Nightlight and Katherine had to remember they were grown-ups with grown-up responsibilities. 

Tonight was not a pillow-fight-night. The pillows were stacked up for both of them to sit up against, while Nightlight caught Katherine up on the events of his night, and then she read aloud to him from her newest story. As her eyes started closing halfway through a sentence, he gently pulled the papers out of her hands and laid them with care on the bedside table, under the lamp that looked like a friendly bookworm. She gave in without protest to snuggle into his arms. He sang quietly to her, and then they both got comfortable under the goosedown quilt.

Nightlight tended not to drop off to sleep very quickly, and tonight was no exception. He was very worried about the Sickle kid. Yet again he’d seen the strange pale man in the beatnik turtleneck and the John Lennon shades loitering under the windows of the freshman dorm. He’d been reassured by his friend Coz that the peeping tom was harmless; apparently the guy was Coz’s roommate’s twin brother. Nightlight had mentally filed away that little tidbit, but intended to remain wary. Blame it on his overdeveloped protective streak. 

He liked Jack Sickle a lot; after several instances of “rescuing” him from his “admirer”, Nightlight had found in conversation that underneath the kid’s excruciating shyness lay a clever brain and a good heart. Jack had mentioned he was an education major, and at some point Nightlight planned to introduce him to Katherine. He had a feeling they’d get along. 

Nuzzling his nose into Katherine’s hair, his floppy pale fetlocks blending with her russet curls, he curled his lanky body into a restful position, shut his eyes and settled himself into something resembling sleep. 

The dream that found him was not quite the dream he expected to have, considering what had been on his mind while slipping into slumber. 

And yet it was, in a peculiar way.

_He stood on the deck of an ancient sailing vessel that somehow was also a spaceship. His back was to the prow, with its mullioned windows sealed against vacuum; he could feel his body tensed in a fighting stance and his teeth bared in a snarl of rage. Shadows surrounded him… shadows with claws and fangs. Shadows that were all too solid and writhing with malice._

_In his right hand he brandished a cutlass. His left arm was occupied with clasping a swaddled baby to his armor-clad side. A long curling strand of hair adorned the child’s head._

_He opened his mouth to scream at the terrifying shadow-creature in front of him, not in fear, but in fury and power. And his voice was the maelstrom that blasted leaves and snow and dust before its fearful might._

_His nemesis blurred, its image splitting in two, and then into two again, seeming unable to hold its shape, swept away on the storm that was Nightlight’s anger…_

… he awoke to hear the trees outside moaning and creaking in the sudden wind that had sprung up in the autumn night. **  
**


End file.
